Senators want $24-B aid from China reviewed

MANILA, Philippines – Senators from the Liberal Party (LP) want the Senate to review the deals with China entered into by President Duterte, including the billions of dollars in aid to be extended by China and the joint coast guard cooperation activities in the disputed West Philippine Sea.

LP Senators Paolo Benigno Aquino IV, Leila de Lima, Franklin Drilon and Francisco Pangilinan said so much is at stake in Duterte’s declared pivot to China and Russia, including the Philippine claim over disputed waters, its trade with other countries and the welfare of overseas Filipino workers.

“We are in agreement that the Philippines needs an independent foreign policy, one that protects and champions the interests of the Filipino people, one that is not pro-American and not pro-China but pro-Filipino, ensuring that the conventions and agreements we sign will benefit Filipino citizens,” the senators said in a joint statement.

“The Filipino people deserve to know what the official position of the administration is and how this affects the lives of our countrymen residing in all corners of the globe,” they added.

Duterte came home last Friday from a four-day state visit in China, which officials said signaled the mending of ties between Manila and Beijing.

The two countries’ relationship was strained by the dispute over the South China Sea, a resource-rich area where about $5 trillion worth of goods pass through every year.

Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said Duterte’s visit to China yielded about $24 billion worth of deals. This covers loan facilities and private sector agreements across different industries. The deals signed include investments in agriculture, energy, tourism, food, manufacturing, tourism, telecommunications and infrastructure.

The senators called for immediate action on Senate Resolution 158 filed by Aquino calling on the Senate committees on foreign relations and economic affairs to conduct a hearing, in aid of legislation, on the foreign policy direction of the government.

The hearing should reveal the terms of the 13 agreements and memoranda of understanding, including the reported $6 billion in soft loans, $3 billion in credit facilities through private Chinese banks, and the Joint Coastal Guard Committee on Maritime Cooperation in disputed waters, signed during Duterte’s state visit in Beijing.

The inquiry should also call on the departments of foreign affairs, finance, and trade and investments to explain the ramifications of Duterte’s latest foreign policy pronouncements on Filipinos living here and abroad.

Pangilinan said the confusion of Duterte’s “conflicting” statements adversely affects public confidence in the nation’s state of affairs and creates uncertainty unnecessarily.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros asked Duterte to be judicious in his statements even as she appreciated his attempts to clarify his pronouncements.

She reiterated her call for the President to conduct extensive dialogues with other branches of government, experts and other stakeholders so that the country’s foreign policy would truly reflect the people’s aspirations.

For Sen. Richard Gordon, Duterte is clever and unorthodox in his foreign policy.

“He (Duterte) obviously made other world leaders listen and make things happen,” Gordon said. - With Alexis Romero